The Bridge of San Luis Rey is the story of six people who are killed when a bridge collapses; a friar wants to compile their stories. Luisa Rey is a character in the six-part novel Cloud Atlas. But I read that Luisa Rey (and Timothy Cavendish) appear one or both of Mitchell's previous books, and I wonder how he named her.
David Mitchell gleefully name-drops some of the texts he draws from: someone reads "20th-century optimists" named Orwell and Huxley; one part's character quotes "Soylent Green" and that movie's supposed twist features in another part. I have meant to read Delius: as I Knew Him since I first listened to Kate Bush's Never for Ever, and now I have a bit more reason to do so.